This photograph shows the 1944 Baxter Springs Whiz Kids baseball team, the first of the Whiz Kids teams organized by manager Barney Barnett. That year, the team competed in the Gabby Street League based in Picher, Oklahoma, and won the league pennant with a record of 30-6. Standing in the photo are (l to r): Calvin Mishler (lf); Dean Cannon (1b, p); Dick Weaver (p, 2b); Bill Crow (rf); Jack Moore (ss, p); Ted Atkinson (1b, p); Richard Barnett (c, lf); Barney Barnett (mgr); Ben Craig (rf); Charles Heavin (3b); Wylie Pitts (cf); Lowell Crawford (c); and batboy R.H. Morgan. The batboy in the middle, in front of Barnett, is Guy Crow. The players ranged from 15 to 18 years of age. They are wearing 1939 New York Yankee uniforms donated to the Whiz Kids by Joe Becker, former business manager of the Joplin Miners, a minor league affiliate of the Yankees. The Miners wore the uniforms in 1942 but Joplin did not field a team again until after the war. During the Whiz Kids' eight-season run, the team was exceptionally successful. It became best known, however, for its most famous player, future Hall-of-Famer Mickey Mantle, who played for the Whiz Kids for a full season in 1948 and briefly in both 1947 and 1949.
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